max range of a .22LR on rabbit

[sarol]

can any one give me some info. on the max range of a .22LR to cleanly stop a rabbit. how much energy at point of impact does it take to cleanly kill a rabbit in foot pounds. any info. would be great. thanks

[swiss.tony]

can any one give me some info. on the max range of a .22LR to cleanly stop a rabbit. how much energy at point of impact does it take to cleanly kill a rabbit in foot pounds. any info. would be great. thanks

killing it and hitting are the 2 main things 22lr starts getting loopy at 100 ...120 i killed a bunny at 147 yard but not really worth it when hmr is there and will do job better

 

but i wood still not want to get in way of a lr round at 400 yards

Edited May 14, 2012 by swiss.tony

[Bewsher500]

a 40gn .22 at 300 yds still has more energy than most air rifles do at 25yds

it will kill at ranges most wouldn't consider

 

not sure what context your question is but for most the .22lr with subsonic is a round used up to 80yds

with practice and knowledge of your drops/wind etc it can be used a lot further.

 

I shot a rabbit off stick at 110yds once. not something I was particularly proud of or would try to repeat but I know the drops at 50, 75, 100, 125 yds for that rifle having walked back from a target and shot groups using the same POA

 

I think minimum levels of energy should be avoided at all cost.

[colin lad]

they reckon it takes 4ft lb to drop a rabbit if hit in the right place

most sub sonic .22 rounds are about 100 ft lb at muzzle and about 65-70 ft lb at 100 yards thats about 5-6 times the energy of a sub 12ft lb air rifle at muzzle

as swiss said you wouldn't to to stand in the way of one at 400yard

 

colin

[39TDS]

The iron sights on my .22 BRNO are factory marked up to 200yds.

I can hit and kill them at 120 yds (with scope) but as said above, 80 yds is sensible, practical maximum.

 

Your first two replies actually covered it very well. No doubt we will now go on for another couple of pages of arguing.

[colin lad]

The iron sights on my .22 BRNO are factory marked up to 200yds.

I can hit and kill them at 120 yds (with scope) but as said above, 80 yds is sensible, practical maximum.

 

Your first two replies actually covered it very well. No doubt we will now go on for another couple of pages of arguing.

like you say mate 80 yards is about ideal but you cant beat a good argument :good:

i get me popcorn in early

[bruno22rf]

Q-how far away will a .22lr kill a rabbit? A-how far away can you hit one?

[bedwards1966]

The answer is simply how far away you can hit the thing. If the bullet hits the right (or wrong) place a .22lr can kill a human well over a mile away, so rabbits don't present any difficulties!

 

With subsonic rounds the bullets start to drop significantly after about 70 yards, I'm happy shooting mine up to 100 but after that it's the wrong tool for the job as the bullet drop is too great to work with.

Using supersonic rounds give flatter shooting, but only by a small amount, at the expense of accuracy and noise.

[WelshLamb]

850 yards, at least :lol:

 

(Someone pass me some popcorn?)

[Fisheruk]

Q-how far away will a .22lr kill a rabbit? A-how far away can you hit one?

 

+1 You should have come to Catton this last weekend. Then you would know how far you can hit one.

[Gimlet]

The average .22 subsonic round is delivering 65ft/lb at 100 yds. That's enough energy to kill with a vital area body shot and some to spare, which is as it should be. Live quarry should not be used for target practise or experimenting. That's what paper is for.

For me 100 yds is the limit, give or take due to dodgy range estimation. My .22 is zeroed at 70 yds. That gives me 4" of holdover at 100 yds and about 40mm under at 50. 4" is an easy measure to judge with a plain reticle at any magnification- its an inch above the tip of the ears. As Bedwards says, if you're shooting beyond 100 yds with a .22 you've left home with the wrong rifle. Or you're not properly familiar with your ground or your strategy is wrong.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Gimlet

[sarol]

thanks for the info. will be using at about 75 yards when i get the rifle. have to do some proper range marking on the land. question was just for intrest purposes, not because i want to shoot over my or the calibre capabilities. on the application you have to put where it is to be used, so if you get more land do you have to re apply to have it added to the ticket before you can shoot there?

[Sharpshooter.123]

Yep ring your firearms unit or officer and they will tell you if it's cleared or arrange to get it cleared for you I have taken some very nice shots recently and iv got more confidence in the little 22 round. My furthest is pushing 90yrds but I wouldn't want to take that shot everyday! You can't beat 22lr for noise. The other night we took 5 in a meter square and they didn't have a clue what was going on!!

[Frenchieboy]

thanks for the info. will be using at about 75 yards when i get the rifle. have to do some proper range marking on the land. question was just for intrest purposes, not because i want to shoot over my or the calibre capabilities. on the application you have to put where it is to be used, so if you get more land do you have to re apply to have it added to the ticket before you can shoot there?

Whatever range you chose to shoot rabbits at practicing at that range, and other ranges shorter than your chosen maximum range on paper targets is the key to good shooting!

Whatever you do, don't try going over your chosen range for live quarry until you have got used to your rifle and it's charactoristics.

I have my .22LR zeroed at 50 yards and will shoot rabbits with it out to 100 yards but that is because I know the holdover needed for the ranges I shoot at!

[Gimlet]

Whoops! Just noticed the error in my figures. A .22 subsonic delivers 65ft/lb at 125 yds. So in fact there's plenty of knock down power to that range and out to 150. But with my 70 yd zero 125 yds would require 8 or 9 inches of holdover. That's to much to judge accurately to my mind. So I'll stick to 100 yds.

[wymberley]

 

a .22lr can kill a human well over a mile away

 

 

I'd like one of those; where did you get yours?

 

Edit: PS Assuming, of course, that we're talking as most common for rabbit, sub-sonic. This added in view of Bewsher's post below.

Edited May 15, 2012 by wymberley

[Bewsher500]

I wouldn't fancy proving that wrong!

 

300yds - 4 layers of demin and packing tape and 6" of beef. straight through

 

 

 

at a mile even at falling vertically at terminal velocity 40gn of lead has 6-10ft/lbs

double it to be conservative on a shot fired at 45deg retaining some velocity and you are taking an FAC rated air rifle round at the muzzle.

 

 

don't kid yourself it is not lethal at a mile

[bedwards1966]

I'd like one of those; where did you get yours?

 

Edit: PS Assuming, of course, that we're talking as most common for rabbit, sub-sonic. This added in view of Bewsher's post below.

 

 

I wouldn't fancy proving that wrong!

 

300yds - 4 layers of demin and packing tape and 6" of beef. straight through

 

 

 

at a mile even at falling vertically at terminal velocity 40gn of lead has 6-10ft/lbs

double it to be conservative on a shot fired at 45deg retaining some velocity and you are taking an FAC rated air rifle round at the muzzle.

 

 

don't kid yourself it is not lethal at a mile

 

I think that answers it fairly well, but I'll add this too:

 

I can't find any reference of it and don't have time to search, but someone shot a .22lr at a bird in a tree once, and missed. I don't know what ammo was used, but even the high velocity stuff isn't that much more powerful than subsonic's.

Anyway, he missed and the bullet hit somebody out for a walk in the countryside with his wife almost 2 miles away. It hit him in the chest, and very nearly killed him. The reason he lived was because his wife had medical knowledge (nurse I think) and was able to help him immediately.

 

Now it must have been somewhere close to the optimum angle of about 42 degrees, it might have been a high velocity round and it might have had a tail wind too, but even if it did have all those things then it shows it can happen. A 40g projectile doesn't need to be travelling fast to be lethal if it hits the right (or wrong) spot.

[Bewsher500]

there was a guy hit in his garden in the papers not too long ago, got him in the shoulder luckily

[wymberley]

Just to put things into perspective; the optimum angle of either 42 or 45 degrees can be ignored as it's difficult to find even a small vacuum let alone one over a mile long.

 

A bog standard sub-sonic (Winchester) 22LR round in standard atmospheric conditions will travel 1803 yards if fired at 35 degrees with a final descent angle of 67.3 and having 265 ft/sec for 6.2 ft/lbs.

 

The most pokey 22 rimfire round that I've found - not looked too hard will admit - is obviously a WMR and - as above - 2053, 30, 67, 270, 8.1.

 

I suppose it boils down to what is considered lethal energy even by fluke.

[Bewsher500]

what is the distance if fired at 45 degrees and how did you work it out?

not a poke, genuinely interested putting my geek hat on

[wymberley]

No problem.

 

I'm afraid that I can't answer the question simply because, and let's forget the 42 degrees for a minute, the 45 angle only applies in a vacuum - with no air resistance, etc, etc. This explains the two different angles in my examples. My programme will not let me set an angle as a criterion, only giving one as an answer and is designed for practical use.

 

I would imagine a science orientated member may be able to produce the vacuum details but, as ever, the problem with rimfire ammo is getting the bullet BC which is usually reqired for the calculations.

[Gimlet]

So to answer the OP's question, it is perfectly fine to shoot rabbits with .22 subsonics out to 1800 yds provided you hit them in the head? :blink:

He's going to need a better scope.

[casts_by_fly]

bewsher,

 

There are plenty of calculators online to give you the vacuum distance. Using 1080 fps and 45 degrees in a vacuum you're looking at 12,000 yards or just under 7 miles as a maximum. Now throw air resistance in and the maximum distance (as per wymberly above) is 1800 yards, or basically 1 mile. So that gives you some idea how important wind resistance is. The calculation isn't easy though as wind resistance is proportional to velocity (more velocity, more resistance) which makes for a differential equation (thus why it is easiest on a calculator). I use JBM online which doesn't allow inputting your own angle.

 

That said, let's make an approximation just based on the change of angle. The formula to calculate max distance (absent air resistance) is proportional to sin(2A) where A is the angle you launch it at. In the vacuum model, 45 is optimum and yields sin (2*45) = 1. If you use 35 degrees in that formula you get sin (2*35) = 0.94. So a change of 10 degrees from optimum yields about a 6% drop in distance. If we carry that approximation to Wymberly's calculation, 94% of 1800 yards is just under 1700 yards, or just under 1 mile. The actual distance will be a little less because air resistance magnifies the change, but realistically the difference between 85% and 94% is about 100 yards. So if you can judge distance to within 100 yards at a mile's range, then you're doing well.

 

Thanks,

Rick

[Rimfireboy]

can any one give me some info. on the max range of a .22LR to cleanly stop a rabbit. how much energy at point of impact does it take to cleanly kill a rabbit in foot pounds. any info. would be great. thanks

The simple answer is, as far away as you can hit it, and way,way beyond